Saturday, May 13, 2017

Turning Tides at Gili Lankanfushi

The tides are changing here at
Gili, as we say goodbye to well-loved faces and welcome new ones.

Deborah Burn hard at work

After three years of dedicated
work as the resident Marine Biologist and Environmental Officer, Deborah Burn is
moving onto live and work in New Zealand. She has set a fantastic example of
how to run a marine program by combining her passion and knowledge of marine
conservation to create lasting connections with local and global marine
organizations. She also raised the bar
on the guest excursions and the experimental science carried out at the resort.
Thank you for doing such a fantastic job Debs.

Next week, we also say goodbye to our other resident biologist, Assistant Marine Biologist, Josie Chandler. Josie has worked at Gili for two years and
was responsible for creating and delivering the sustainability training to
almost the entire 300 hosts and also co-managed the coral lines project. Josie is
leaving in search of her next piece of paradise and currently plans to spend
the end of the year underwater in a remote, tropical location.

Josie Chandler completing her Rescue Diver qualification

The hard work put in by these
marine biologists and sustainability educators has ensured that everyone at the resort knows more about how their day to day habits affect the environment
around them. Since receiving proper
training, the energy consumption, water use and waste management has been
considerably reduced in host areas.

You will both be missed.

The successful projects
instigated by Debs and Josie will now be passed down to our new Marine
Biologist and Environmental Officer, Clare Baranowski.

Clare in her new role

Clare is extremely excited to be
here: She aims to build the marine biology team to include both an
international and Maldivian marine biologist. “I am looking forward to
continuing the great work of Debs, Josie and Vaidas. I am hoping to incorporate
some long term goals of my own working with hosts and local communities.”

Clare will start her term by opening
the long awaited Marine Biology Centre on World Oceans Day 8th
June 2017. The name of this beautiful
building is yet to be confirmed. We have put it to the hosts to come up with
ideas and we received over 100 suggestions. Stay tuned to find out which name is chosen.